Friday, December 9, 2016

"Miss Melody Jones"

"Her tinseltown dreams dragged her into the Hollywood gutter." What, you haven't seen "Miss Melody Jones"? Perhaps you caught the film under its alternate title "Ebony Dreams." The 1972 American Films Ltd. blaxploitation film directed by Bill Brame stars Philomena Nowlin and Peter Jacob. No idea what happens in the rest of the film but in the opening sequence we get a walk down Hollywood Blvd. and several 360 degree pans around the forecourt at Grauman's Chinese.

Thanks to theatre sleuth Jonathan Raines for digging this one out of the Hollywood gutter. Sorry about the extreme lo-res images. They're from YouTube where you can see the first few minutes of the filmand enjoy its theme song "Hollywood." Why don't you get the DVD and send me some better screenshots?

Kurt Wahlner, the historian of all things related to the Chinese Theatre notes: "I figure that the scene was shot sometime in early January 1972, in the
early afternoon. Hardly any people hanging around - not like today.
"Diamonds Are Forever" is playing, and the posters for "What's Up, Doc?"
have not been put out yet." Check out his site: www.graumanschinese.org.

See our many pages on Grauman's Chinese for lots of history and several hundred photos.